Season 2: Chapter 54. Immunity (2)
They heard a girl crying after wandering on the second floor for about ten minutes.
"What... what's that...?"
The class president's group hesitated and stepped back.
‘What’s this?’
Almond also paused and found the sound similar to when they encountered the boss monster crying behind a curtain. He easily defeated it before, but its initial surprise attack was unforgettable.
‘Is there another one?’
Almond considered the possibility of another boss monster and cautiously approached Class 1-8, where they stored the food.
"Ah, Almond. Is it okay to go in?" the class president asked nervously.
"It seems like a strange mutant zombie. It'll be fine."
"What, what?"
— Class president’s expression: This doesn't seem fine at all??
— Class president’s frozen expression
— Why is the class president's expression so diverse? Extreme approval
The class president found it incredulous and adjusted his glasses while blinking.
Almond reassured him again, "I've killed one before."
However, his words didn’t reassure the class president. Instead, the class president’s mind turned into even more disarray.
— Fact: He killed one.
— Hilariously true
— One already died
— But really, what’s with the crying again?
— Another one?
The crying came from an unknown source. Regardless, Almond didn’t think they needed to fear it. He proved his point by walking alone into Class 1-8.
"The crying has actually decreased here."
The crying seemed to be coming from Class 1-8 as he approached, but the sound faded after he entered. No, it stopped.
"That's strange. It wasn’t here?"
"It seemed like it was here..."
"Ugh, I don't know. It's creepy. Let’s just quickly take the bread boxes and leave."
Their goal was simply to retrieve the bread boxes and bring them downstairs. There was no need to confront and kill a mutant zombie that was crying.
"Over there."
The class president spotted the bread boxes behind the door and approached.
Almond followed him and suddenly stopped at a distance.
‘?’
He felt something was off, but couldn't pinpoint what it was. Then he realized something was inside just as the class president opened the bread box.
"Let's see how many lovely breads are─"
The class president's hair literally stood on end.
"Aaaaaaaah!" he screamed and jumped back.
— LOL
— "Reaction King"
— Seriously
Thud!
The class president fell backward and his eyes rolled back in shock.
"Cl-Class President!"
The other students rushed to support him, but each one who approached shrieked in alarm.
"Aah!"
"What!"
"Crazy!"
A scream also came out from the box.
"Aaaaaah!"
Thud.
A girl tumbled out of the box and popped up like a spring.
— ??
— What's that?
— Damn
— A mutant?
— OH fuck
She appeared to be a younger elementary school student. At first glance, she seemed like a harmless little girl. However, they couldn't approach her carelessly given the current situation.
"Huuuaaang!"
The girl ran to a corner of the classroom and began sobbing uncontrollably while muttering something incomprehensible.
One of the class president's members murmured in confusion, "Why... why is there an elementary student in our high school?"
Their high school was a standalone institution and wasn’t even connected to a middle school, but this girl seemed like an elementary student. More importantly, how had she survived with a mutant zombie on this floor? Such a young child surviving in this environment seemed impossible, especially without food.
"Wait."
Almond stopped the students from approaching with a window bar. No one said a mutant couldn’t disguise itself as a human. A weak young girl would be the most advantageous form to take.
One student questioned him when he prevented them from approaching, "Why? She's just a kid."
"There was a mutant zombie here. No one could enter this place, not even Baek Joon-Soo’s gang."
Gulp.
The student dryly swallowed and glanced at the crying child.
"Sh-Should we run away?" another student whimpered while dragging the unconscious class president.
"No, it might not be a mutant zombie."
"But what if it is?! Then we're all going to die!"
"I told you. I've killed a mutant zombie. I'll deal with it right away if it reveals its true colors. Why are you all so scared?" Almond spoke as if there was nothing to worry about and stepped toward the child while maintaining a safe distance in case of a sudden attack.
"Hey, little one... What's your name?"
He decided that the best way to check if she was human was to start a conversation.
"Huuk... huk..."
— Damn I’m scared...
— This is somehow really scary
— Oh man, I’m nervous
The girl's crying sounded eerily similar to the mutant’s.
"Don't cry. Tell me your name," Almond pleaded as he gripped the window bar and hoped she would comply.
The girl struggled to swallow her sobs and responded, "Yu... Yu-Bin."
— Oh.
— Is she human?
— Not sure yet.
"Seo Yu-Bin... Huuuk... Mommy..."
"How old are you?"
"Te... ten."
She was ten years old and a third grader in elementary school.
"How did you end up here?"
"I don't know... with Mommy..."
The class president, who just regained consciousness, completed her inadequate answer.
"There was a parent-teacher day. Ugh... I thought my heart dropped."
"Parent-teacher day? We didn't have that."
The class president dusted off his pants and continued to explain, "Not for the first years. It was for the second years."
The girl nodded in agreement.
"Yes! My sister... she's in her second year... I had nowhere to go, so I came with Mommy..."
It seemed her mother brought her along for parent-teacher day since third-graders finished school in the morning and she was too young to be left alone at home. The girl indeed seemed human according to this logic.
"She does seem like a real person, right?"
"But how did she survive?"
"No idea."
The girl's mother and sister were nowhere to be seen, yet she survived by herself.
"Where are your mom and sister?"
The girl took a moment to steady her breathing.
"It... it got scary. So... I ran here... The other older sisters tried to protect me... but... that strange thing... came... so fast... white..."
Almond immediately recognized the strange thing from the girl's description. It was the mutant that inhabited the second floor.
"But how did you survive?"
He realized the answer as soon as he asked.
[Disaster Alert Notification]
[Temporary shelters are being operated at air-raid shelters in each area. Not everyone can enter. Only ten people per immune person are allowed limited entry.]
The disaster text message he received on his phone mentioned people with immunity. These were individuals unaffected by the zombie virus.
"I don't know... that strange thing didn't attack me... It mimicked my actions..."
It seemed that zombies didn’t attack those who were immune.
"So that's why its cries were similar."
Now he understood where the mutant zombie learned how to cry. It copied this girl.
"So, what is it? Is she human?"
"Yeah, she's immune."
The sudden mention of immunity confused the students.
"An im-immune person? How do you know that...?"
"Hmm. I see." The class president seemed to realize something and stroked his chin. "So that's why she survived. It all makes sense now. It's quite a coincidence for there to be an immune person in the school, especially someone who isn't even a student here."
"An immune person means we can go to the national shelter, right!?"
"Oh? That's true!"
"Wow!"
They knew that being with an immune person granted entrance to the government-operated shelter. There, they would be free from the worries of food and shelter and be safe from the zombie virus.
Each immune person could bring along ten others for a potential vaccine. Yes, it was limited to only ten.
"But it's only ten people per immune person."
Currently, their group consisted of fifteen members.
"Awesome. We got lucky."
"Little girl, come here. We have lots of bread."
The students excitedly chatted while perhaps calculating something in their heads.
— Wow, an immune person.
— Oh, Almond~~~ That nut spin is no joke.
— So that's why there was a boss on the second floor, haha.
— Are we almost done with the game??
— But how do we get out of the school...
***
Almond's group returned with the bread boxes and, surprisingly, a little girl. This shocked Hyun-Ah and Soo-Hyun. After all, it was unthinkable for those who came down from the second floor to bring along a little girl, especially since they saw the boss monster there themselves.
"What, what, is that a ghost?"
"Aaaaah!" Hyun-Ah screamed and ran back in fear.
"I think I'm seeing things..."
"No, she's Yu-Bin. She’s not a ghost," Almond calmly explained that she was immune.
All the students gathered in the cafeteria became momentarily speechless at this revelation.
"An immune person?"
"Really?"
"Wow."
"Can't believe such a thing exists."
"How do you know?"
Almond explained why it wouldn't make sense if Yu-Bin wasn’t immune.
"But that's just circumstantial evidence..."
"Hmm."
Some students remained skeptical.
"Of course, it’s only circumstantial. No immune person is walking around with a sign saying they’re immune," the class president supported Almond's view.
"What matters is that there's a high probability she's immune," Hyun-Ah also sided with them.
The students reluctantly nodded in agreement.
"Even if she's not immune, she's still a kid. We should take care of her. We have enough food."
"Yeah..."
"Let's all get moving."
It was already getting late. They needed to prepare for the night before it got too late.
***
They decided to make the gymnasium their base. It was large enough to accommodate their group without any trouble. The storage room had numerous athletic mattresses that made for suitable bedding. Most importantly, the gymnasium was the only place in the school with crucial amenities like bathrooms and shower facilities.
Now, the gymnasium became the perfect sanctuary after they moved the food from the cafeteria and the medical supplies from the infirmary there.
***
After barricading all the entrances to the gymnasium and laying mattresses on the floor, all the students prepared to sleep except for two guards on night watch. Almond chose a random mattress and lay down.
“Sigh.”
Thud.
Soo-Hyun also lay down beside him and sighed.
Almond was about to press the [Sleep] button when he paused and asked, “What’s up?”
“No... It's just that things seem a bit better now, right? We can shower. There are lots of us and we have good weapons.”
“True.”
Was that a reason to sigh? Almond felt puzzled.
“But I’m worried about eventually having to leave.”
“Leave?”
“Yeah, we have an immune person now. We'll eventually have to leave and find another shelter.”
“... Right.”
“Will everything go well?”
Almond pressed the [Sleep] button and replied, “It has to.”
[Sleep]
Just like that, the next day instantly arrived for Almond.
***
Meanwhile, a late-night meeting took place at WePlug, the company responsible for making Zombie School. The game was still in early access, so they busily worked around the clock for its official release.
During the meeting, CEO Kim Yi-Seo tapped his pen and asked, “But the area outside the school isn't that well-developed in this early access version, right?”
“Yes, we could only create a radius of about two to three kilometers.”
“How do we prevent players from leaving? It’s not some corny method like, 'You may not go beyond this point in early access...’ right?”
“No, you always say that too much game intervention breaks immersion.”
“Right, so how did you handle it?”
“We placed zombie variants that couldn't be beaten at this stage there, naturally preventing further progression.”
“Oh, nice.”
“And it also plants the expectation, or fear, of variant zombies that will appear in the official release.”
“Good job. Seems like I don’t need to check everything anymore. Now, let's move to the feedback from the early access users. First, about the initial violence acting as a barrier to entry...”